Got Programming Skills?

Think you got programming skills?

Think you could build an app in 8 hours?

Make some money proving it....If I get enough free time, I plan to participate in one of these.

Matter of fact, if you want to do one of these I will definitely help.

http://challengepost.com/discover

About BDPA

For those of you interested in knowing more about the BDPA organization, check out this great T.V. interview with its founder.

http://vimeo.com/25390274

Popular Technology TV | 2011 Pilot Episode from bdpatoday on Vimeo.

FYI: The National Convention is coming in August.

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5 Ways to be Lucky and Successful

Quite often I find myself talking about these rules during our weekly programming training classes (BDPA - HSCC).

Luck and success is all around you. But you have to be open to it. There is a mindset to being lucky and being successful. The following are some rules that help me to be lucky and successful:

Rule 1. Roll with the Changes
Change is going to come. We all make plans and life promptly crushes them. But when everything is falling apart, take the time to look around. Somewhere in the madness is an opportunity.

Grab it, catch it, put it in your back pocket, clean up your life, get back on track, then pull the opportunity out of your pocket and explore it.

Rule 2. Walk with open eyes
The simple act of noticing will bring luck to you. We don't always have to rush. Take the time to stroll and look around. You never know...
See that lady with the screaming four year old? She might have the job you've been looking for. Maybe you should have stopped and helped her.

Did you see that billboard about the master's degree? They might have a grant with your name on it.

See that flyer on the wall, don't you recognize that face? It's an old co-worker looking for a partner to start their next business.


3. Be Bold
Take risk, you don't have as much to lose as you think. Really has rejection ever killed anyone. Put yourself out there, so someone can pick you up. Keep in mind that if you let yourself, you will talk yourself out of everything that was meant for you.

4. Know when to quit
Because you are now taking risks and being bold, you will find a lot of things going on in your life. This is good, you're enjoying life. But at some point it will be too much. I know when I reach this point because I start to habitually avoid doing things. So, the time has come to trim to fat and let something go. Choose carefully, but admit and realize that something has to go.

On the other hand, be honest about your efforts are they profitable, monetarily or emotionally. If you ain't getting no satisfaction its a good sign that it's time to cut it loose. Life is to short to spend it on the un-enjoyable.

5. Make "me" time
Leave time to do nothing. I repeat nothing. Pretend that you're going to sit on your butt and do...wait for it...nothing. You'll find that this is the most enjoyable time you have. You will look forward to this time. You will crave it. The day just won't seem right without it. Why?

Because your nothing time turns into the time you do the thing you absolutely 100% enjoy doing above anything else. You have no obligations, you can do anything you want. You will naturally do what you like the most. Surprisingly you will find that this activity will change week to week. Your brain's appetite is large, once you allow it to join the buffet.

Now, don't go crazy, you can't have "me" time all of the time. Then the pleasure of it goes away, not to mention that the rest of your life will go sideways on you.

So there you have it. 5 simple rules that I live by. They help me be lucky and successful,. They can definitely help you.

What rules would you add?

Today is Special

A little wiser and a little smarter.

I did a little artwork for myself...couldn't sleep last night.

5 Interesting Sites for the Creativity Seeker

Innovative

This site takes my breath away. Creative, beautiful and entertaining. It's not about a whole lot but still shows the power of what you can do with the web.

Expirements in Javascript

Click on one of the links, this guy has a bunch of experiments in Javascript and flash. Interesting stuff to play with and see just what you can do with Javascript.

Photoshop Tutorial Playground

Whenever I visit this site I always find something new to try and play with on my own. It's a list of links to tutorials on photoshop and image manipulations, but let yourself wander through the sites, they are all pretty good.

DIY Wonders

Wonderful things you can create all by yourself with a little ingenuity and creativity. Some technical related, some just fun to do. Again, I never fail to find something to try after reading this page.

I have an "Inspirational" and "Interesting" folder link, these sites sit in there. From time to time I bring up the folder and go visiting. Especially when I'm bored.

Where do you visit to kill time? (Excluding game sites, we all know how to find those.)

5 Steps to Good Virus Protection

"You're protected from viruses, right?" I ask my friend.

I watch the always dependable reaction. Eye shift, foot shuffle, then a wincing "I think...I mean I have Norton on my desktop". Usually followed by a sheepish grin.

My friends, like most average users, know that they should have virus protection, but it's ... difficult to make sure you have the right thing installed. In hopes of making it easy here are some quick tips.

My rule about Anti-virus software: It should be invisible, until I have a problem. If this ain't true then I've got the wrong software package.

Step 1:
AVG.com - Go to the site, click on home version, click on trial and download it. It expires in 30 days, but we will discuss this later. DO NOT INSTALL YET.

Step 2:
Remove any anti-virus software that you might already have installed. Click the Start button, Goto to Control Panel, Add Remove Programs, Uninstall your old anti-virus.

This is an important step as multiple anti-viruses will slow your machine as well as cause one another to fail.

Step 3:
Now install AVG. Just follow the prompts, its relatively painless. You DO NOT have to INSTALL any toolbars. (Unless you want them)

Step 4:
When your done installing, click on the AVG icon in your start tray. (The area down by the time and date).

• Click on Scans
• Create a scheduled scan
• It should scan once a week
• It should scan all drives
• Let it start at 12:00 Noon
• If it misses a scan, start a new scan the next time the machine boots.

Step 5:
Whenever you login, check for the AVG icon in your start tray. If you don't see it you have a problem.

That's it! It's not difficult! The only time I see AVG is when I have a virus. It automatically checks all files I save, anything I download and it even checks web links before I click them. It's cool, in a geeky sorta way.

Trial Period
Oddly enough, my 30 day trial expired, but this means that when a virus is detected, I get an offer to buy the product but it still cleans and scans my machine. I encourage you to upgrade and buy the full package. Matter of fact, I'm going to buy the software today.

Updating
At times you might get a popup/message that it's time to update your virus protection. Do it, it will take 15 min and run in the background. You should be aware that AVG will daily download minor updates for itself. However this will happen without you being aware of it. The bigger updates typically mean something special happened. These are the ones you will receive an alert on.

Other Antivirus Packages
There are a number of anti-virus packages out there. All are pretty good, so feel free to try them. Just try them one at a time. I recommend AVG as it's NOT well known. Which means hackers are not specifically targeting their system. It's a small advantage, but "life's a game of inches."

Malware - Antivirus Impersonators
This sounds counter intuitive, but be very careful of any popup message saying you have a virus There are a number of hacks that impersonate your anti-virus software. They look very close to the real thing! If your suspicious of something, just cancel out and click on your AVG icon (in the start tray). It will let you know if there is a problem.

If you get one of these malware viruses that LOOK like a anti-virus software, seek a professional. These viruses tend to get out of hand very quickly!!!

Finally, I would challenge my friend Mr. Clark over at Clark Thought Leadership to write his own blog entry on this topic. He specializes in IT and PC Security.

So tell me what Anti-Virus do you use, and does it work for you?

What Your Signature is Telling Me

Take a blank piece of unlined paper.

Now quickly sign your full name as you would if you had to sign a check.

Now write a sentence in cursive. Any sentence will do but for you anal retentive folks try this one: "Today is going to be a great day.".

OK...go do it...really, this is going to be interesting.

Did you do it?

Really?

OK, look at your two writings:

What direction are your letters sloping?

• Backward - You are a reserved person, the more slanted the more reserved you are. Typically you will hide your feelings rather than express yourself. This is because you wish to be true to yourself.
  
• Forward - You have no problems communicating and often times will go out of the way to do so.
  
• Straight Up and Down - You tend to be removed from the world, aloft.
  

How large do you write?

• Large - Either you are very outgoing, or you tend to hide yourself behind big bold actions.
  
• Small - Small letters reflect a thinking mind
• Normal - Well, you are normal

Note: If the writing looks "delicate" your likely not to communicate well, but are a deep thinker.

How much space is between the letters of your words?

• Very close together - You are a social butterfly, you love interactions and may even be the life of the party.
• Normal Spacing - You are shy, don't create a lot of connections maybe due to high moral values.
• Further apart - You act swiftly and decisively, sometimes without thinking

How much space is between the words?

• A lot - You tend to resist the influence of outside voices and your own emotions. You like to come to a logic conclusion when searching for an answer.
  
• Small Spaces - You like to be in the midst of a conversation, one may consider you a busy body.
• No spaces - Your quick like fire, easily moved,swift response, almost impatient with the self confident and ego to go with it. You might find yourself taking over conversations quite easily.
  

Does what you wrote tilt?

• Tilting Up - Your an optimistic person
• Tilting Down - Your a pessimistic person
• No Tilt - Your pretty balanced
  

In General

Looking at the middle section of your writing, this would be the space where most of the word exists. The size of this area indicates your self image. The larger this area is in relation to the entire word the greater your self image. This is especially true if the area is very small.

In general the further your letters go from the middle area the more ambitious and out spoken you are. You can especially see this when looking at the letters Y, P, G, F, S.

A person who continually "flourishes" their F, G, or S can be said to be an especially outgoing and emotional person.

Look for how high the tops of your letters go, those that require you to go into the capitalization part of a letter. The higher the letters go the more this person focuses on the realities of life. This could be monetary, power or friendship. The higher the flourish the more drawn this person is to those things.

Look for how low the person goes under. Every sentence has a base line which can be drawn under it. The depth of the letters under this line, such as the bottom of the letter g, show how deeply the person dwells on their inner thoughts. This would indicate an avid reader or knowledge gather. Someone who has no problems thinking and being by themselves with nothing in particular to do. Pen strokes under the line also signify a person in touch with thier natual instincts. The more strokes the more instinctual this person may be.

Most interesting, someone who goes deep under the line and has large fat loops has an active and eager sexual drive. For those single fella's out there, ask the lady to sign her name as well as her number next time.

For those whose writing shows few flourishes, big swoops, broad strokes, dashes, etc. This person is usually one who comes to a task with much concentration. They will tackle a problem very directly and, in almost a bull dog fashion, not move on until the problem is solved.

Seeing a lot of carefully dotted i's and crossed t's? This indicates that you are a solid person. Once a path, decision or selection is made. More often than not, you will not have your mind changed. This is especially true if the dot above you i's are exactly in the right place.

Now, I hope that none of you exhibit this, but if you do...ummm, I wish you well. Pull back from your writing...try to draw a line under your sentence, if the line ends up very crooked and the crook or joint in the line is in the middle of a word. Odds are you have some mental problems. (or your drunk, try again later) Crooked lines and flourishes the counteract one another are typically found in the more deranged folks in our society.


What's the difference in your Signature and your Sentence?

This is one of the more gray areas of handwriting analysis. One theory is that your signature represents your self image and your sentenace represents your true image.

My personal theory is that your full signature (last name included) reflects your true personality. Your Sentence reflects how you feel at that particular moment.

I've done this on myself a number of times and I get different results in my Sentenance all the time and usually it is because of different moods that I am in at that particular moment. My signature is pretty stable.

In Conclusion
The study of handwriting is called "Graphology". I am no expert on this, just something I've learned and enjoy using over the years.

All of the above is theory and conjecture and may not necessary represent you.

For those that might like more:
http://www.businessballs.com/graphologyhandwritinganalysis.htm

What a 10 Year Old Taught Me

Most parents can relate to what I went through last night. The three of us, my wife, my son and I, sat on the couch and were discussing the day, we turned toward a tender spot in my son's mind. I watched his immediate reaction. Body stiffens, huffing and puffing, muttering under his breath, a few tears and some large sighs. I could see that we were not going any where fast.

I thought to use this as a learning opportunity. The first step was to get him committed to being engaged in the conversations. I resorted to a "carrot" of sorts.

"Son, if you talk to Mom and I for 30 min, I'll let you stay up an extra hour tonight...but we have to have a meaning full conversation about this."

It was almost comical. He immediately stopped huffing, sat for a minute then turned and quite calmly said "OK". The next thirty minutes were eye opening for all of us. I figured I must be on the right track...

I proceeded to explain a key concept to almost any conversation to him.

"You know we both have different ideas about this problem. You have to start a conversation by assuming that neither one of us is right or wrong. "

He replies: "But you guys are adults and I have to listen to what you say"

"Yes, We are your parents and when we tell you to do something you have to do it. However, when we sit down to talk, we want to understand your point of view and we want you to understand ours."

"OK"

I explained to him that during a conversation it was important to sit up straight and say what he really felt. He did not need to shout, cry or plead as we were already intently listening to what he said.

One of the recurring themes was interruptions. And as our children are supposed to do, I learned something from my 10 year old that evening. I tended to interrupt the other party when I was engaged in "verbally sparing".

My son found this especially disturbing as when I interrupted him he felt that he had to defer to me and let me speak, thus shutting his thoughts out or causing him to forget his train of thought.

At certain points he in turn would interrupt my speech as he would attack my arguments. Unfortunately he would do this before I laid out the entire picture so he would miss points in my argument. This lead to a cycle where he would not understand something but I could not finish the thought to explain it to him. Looking back, I wonder how many of my own conversations would have been shorter if I had not "jumped" into the rebuttal.

I helped him understand that he had to let the other person finish their thoughts. If he wanted to address a particular part of what was said, he simply had to repeat that part and then state why he thought it was wrong.

All in all, I found it very interesting and I think we learned a lot about ourselves and each other.

If you have a young child in your house I suggest that you also sit down and teach them the valuable lesson of holding up their end of a conversation. You may be surprised at what you learn.

In case your wondering the topic of discussion was Homework. *grin*

Who is this Guy?

My name is Markus Beamer. I was born in Tacoma Washington but was raised in Columbia South Carolina. I come from a family of 4 boys and 2 girls and thus am used to a very hectic environment. “Never a dull moment” is certainly the motto for our home growing up. That’s probably why 11 years ago I turned to technology for a career, “Never a dull moment” sums up its progress quite nicely.

During my college years, at the College of Charleston, my first exploration into technology was as a web developer for a software licensing firm. I started out typing HTML and Javascript into a simple notepad window. Through the years I touched upon CSS, Java, Visual Basic, PHP, mySQL, Photoshop, Access, Oracle and MS SQL Server in that exact order. However, I find it quite amusing that to this day when I want to write a bit of code I reach for my notepad application first…no matter the language. Needless to say, I found a love in technology. No matter how much I knew, I never was bored, as something new was but a day away. Change was always going to come.

Of course change can come when you grow the family. Currently my family is in Charlotte North Carolina. I am the lucky husband to one fine lady and the proud father of two rambunctious boys. I am happy to say that my household carries on the tradition of “Never a dull moment”. My oldest son is crazy for electronics and all things technical. My youngest son is definitely the outdoor, rough and tumble kinda fella. They both attract their fair share of friends and our house has become the “neighborhood” house. (much to my wife’s dismay!)

I currently work at Bank of America as a Business Process Consultant. When asked, I tell friends and family that my role is to help “leadership” make the best use of technology and in truth this is what I do. However the role affords me much more than that, I am at a crucial nexus where the needs, desires and ambitions of the business meet the calculations, formulas and algorithms of technology. It’s a great place to be and I don’t think I’ll change it for some time to come.

But...

At times one gets bored with the day to day. It is in those times that I turn to my hobby of game building. Like most hobbies it is silly yet fulfilling. I build small games that can be played in a browser; my specialty is to build them with JavaScript so they do not require any plug-ins or downloads to play. Sometimes the games are role based, sometimes they are card based, other times they are …different. I have been doing this since 1999. I laugh when I think of the number of games I have written and thrown by the wayside (at last count 24). But that is what a hobby is…a wasted time that allows the mind, body and soul to reset.

I hope that having learned a little more about me, you will reach out and shake my hand. I am always happy to meet new folks.

BDPA Charlotte Chapter President Elect

On Tuesday, 11/17, I was elected as Charlotte Chapter’s President Elect for 2010 and 2011. My first thoughts were around the amount of work that needs to get done. And there is a lot of work that needs to get done.

I have been with the Charlotte chapter for upwards of 8 years. Over the years I have meet many good passionate people through BDPA, participated in numerous events and seen many great things come out of the BDPA chapters.

The upcoming Charlotte President, Julius Clark, has a host of great ideas, projects and people that he is bringing with him into his administration. I want the members, both locally and nationally, to be comfortable with sharing their honest opinions and assessments of what we will be putting into motion.

As President Elect my role requires that I keep track and participate in almost every facet of the local chapter. However a few of my personal goals are to ensure the following takes place during my session:

• Focus on the long term viability of each project
• Track the day to day progress of our initiatives
• Ensure that we are receiving feedback on our initiatives
• Foster a sense of membership and family for all members involved

I am very much looking forward to my time in a leadership role with the Charlotte Chapter.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please reach out to me.

Thank You for your Trust,

Markus Beamer

What Are Your Feet Trying to Tell Me?

For those that may not know, I like to play poker. I think I'm pretty good at it. I like to play poker because contrary to what you may believe poker, is 70% reading people and 30% playing cards.

I recently read a book called "Read'em and Reap". It's an FBI interrogator's guide to understanding the instinctual moves that people make, specifically how it pertains to the Poker tables. Reading "tells" is what us poker players call it. But reading tells is done in almost every aspect of my life. Anyway, I strongly suggest you read this if you are into poker in any way or are interested in understanding body language.

One interesting fact: Did you know that your feet are the most "honest" part of your body. Your face is the least truthful. Information like this can be used outside of the poker room.

For example: Say you're having a conversation with someone and can't quite tell if they're actually getting it. Look at their feet. If thy're pointed directly at you, the person is engaged and listening and most likely right with you.

However if the feet are at a diagonal, or worse yet pointed away, they are not into the conversation and quite likely want to get out of it.

On the same thought, have you ever walked up to a conversation and wanted to participate but felt shut out? Try aligning your feet with everyone. For some reason you'll be swept right into the mix.

We do a lot of this instinctively, but knowing when to do it purposefully can be a powerful thing.

So get out there and let your feet tell the world all about you.

Visual Resume

A Visual Resume...for those who might be interested.

A friend of mine got me into "Visualization Techniques" this would be my first effort.

Charlotte BDPA - President Elect for 2010

Hello, my name is Markus Beamer. I have been nominated for the 2010 President Elect position within the local Charlotte chapter of the BDPA. I look forward to getting your help in securing this position.

A little about my history with BDPA, I have been involved with the Charlotte chapter for the past 8 years, particularly with the High School Computer Competition (HSCC). I have assisted and trained over 200 youths in the Charlotte area during that time. I am extremely happy to say that during each of those years Charlotte has taken at least 5 youths to the National Competition.

During my time with the Charlotte chapter I have always been a confidant for the president and vice president of the organization. This year I took an extended step of becoming the VP of Strategy for the local chapter. Both roles have given me a unique perspective on the workings of the local chapter.

As for my agenda during my presidency, I believe that the local chapter needs to re-solidify its foundation. I have a simple plan to do this.

• First, find the right people. This is where it all starts. My first action will be to setup a process to find passionate people in the area who are willing to contribute to leading people from “the class room to the board room”.

• Second, set standards. Once we have the right people gathered and we decided on a course of action. My job will be to ensure that we setup a “process” for each project we work on. This will ensure that in future years the local chapter can continue on the successes of our prior work.

• Finally, ensure a line of succession. The final item I will focus on is ensuring that the local chapter of BDPA has a viable group of candidates that can provide solid leadership and continuation of our successes.

While doing the 3 actions above, we must keep the mantra of BDPA in mind “From the Classroom to the Boardroom”. My underlying goal is to see that the Charlotte chapter is able to create a systematic process for delivering this chain of movement. Starting with those teenage youths learning new technology and ending with those of you who may be sitting on the edge of boardrooms.

Finally, I leave you with this thought. The Charlotte chapter is in a time of re-birth. We know that rebuilding is needed. The chapter has become a boulder of potential at rest. My only hope is to nudge the boulder. If we can make it move the first foot, the second foot will be easier. If we can get it to roll a mile, it will roll forever.

And why do we do it? Because one day we will want to look back with pride in our hearts and a smile on our face from the good that we caused.

My High School Programmers

On August 7th, 2009, 3 freshman and 2 sophomore students from Charlotte, NC faced a field of programmers. They made up the youngest team of African American students that competed in this years Annual BDPA High School Computer Competition. Regardless of age they had intentions of winning and they represented Charlotte very well, placing in the top 10 teams nation wide.

They had committed the last 8 months worth of Saturdays to training and learning. Some did not now the very basics of web development when they started. On that day they were tasked with building a professional website using only the most basic of tools, but they had their wits about them.

They were asked to build a venture capitalist site, where companies could track monetary request and ROI on the request. And they were asked to build it in 7 hours.

Today, I can say that I am especially proud of these five Charlotte youths. Their accomplishment was no mean feat considering that the field of competition was selected from over 1,000 students and many other teams featured senior high school students.

Every year the BDPA, Black Data Processing Association, holds the national HSCC program in a different city. Every year between 20 and 30 teams come from all over the United States to compete. And every year the local Charlotte BDPA chapter has opened its class to any rising high school student who is willing to listen and learn about technology. From these young students, 5 are selected to compete in the regional or national competition. This years national competition was held in Raleigh North Carolina.

This year the national competition gave out the assignment to the students. It required that they build a venture capital website. On this site a company could request funds and track the requests. In addition to this users of the site could calculate a ROI on the investment. They were allowed no tools other than Notepad and Textpad and their own creative skills.

They were asked to build the site in 7 hours. This is a testament to their talent as I know some professionals who would be hard pressed to provide results in this amount of time.

For those of you who do not know, each year we, the local BDPA chapter, operate a learning class where we teach rising high school students how to build .NET web pages. We have students of all levels walk into our classroom, some having little to no computer experience, some having programmed for years. Regardless of their level of expertise, it is the programs responsibility to see that they walk out having learned a little more about technology.

The BDPA's mantra is "From the Classroom to the Boardroom", the Charlotte chapter strives to provide exactly this.

In previous years multiple HSCC students have gone on to internships within software development groups in the local area WHILE THEY WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL. Winners of the national competition will recieve scholarships to schools of thier choice. And this year BDPA and affiliates provided a full 4 year paid scholarship for an HSCC students from Columbia, SC. We follow through with these students progress as thier professional careers develop.

If you have a student that is interested in the program, we encourage them to come to our classes. They being the weekend after the Superbowl. The sessions are not expensive. Find out more by visiting, http://www.bdpa-charlotte.org

If you are interested in helping this program, in any way, please reach out to me. Someone reached out to you when you were younger, you should be returning the favor. It makes you feel good!

The Snow Day - From the mind of a 6 year old

I write this in hopes that my two sons will read as they get older. Maybe it will help them understand the quirkiness of their father. I hope it puts a smile on your face boys. I love you both. Be Aware: Dad (me) has a faulty memory so while some things may not be factually acurate, this is how I remember them.

I was born in January and grew up in Tacoma Washington, a town near Seattle. At that time, and probably to this day, it snows a good bit. On my fifth or sixth birthday, lets just make it easier and say it was my sixth, we had a pretty good snow storm blow through.

It was the kind of day that a kid loves. Snowing outside, not a lot of wind, the snow is the soft kind that makes great snowmen and provides just the right amount of cushion to jump off the front porch. Which, by the way, I was forbidden to do but being six and knowing Mom was always wrong I did it anyway.

Mom kept the hot cocoa coming, so I remember alternating between the running in the snow and sipping hot brew at the fireplace. The easy life of a kid.

At the time my father was in the army but was on leave so was home. This was a highly unusual event, but made for a great day even better. Because as all six-year-olds know, when Dad is home all rules are open for new interpretation.

Dad and I spent the better part of the morning building a snowman. I gotta say Dad knew what he was doing. This snowman must have been 6 feet tall and about 4 feet wide at the base. We actually carved arms out of some icy snow and put them on thing. It come out pretty muscular and hulky looking. I remember being a tad bit frightend as it was so very very big. Remember I was six so I was still coming to grips with how tall adults were. (Side Note: Do you remember in 1st grade, how big the 5th graders seemed...giants they were. Or maybe that was just me.)

As I was saying before, it was my birthday and we had our little family celibration in the living room. After the cake my mom wipped a bed sheet off of my present, which was sitting in the corner. HOLY MOLY, I had gotten a Green Machine.

Now, let me enlighten you as some of the newer generation may not know what this awe-inspiring vechicular man-child toy is all about. Back in the day, big wheels were the state of the art way to travel for a six year old. (I still think they should be, but times change). A big wheel is like a tricylce except it has a huge wheel in front and was a low rider...sort of.

Well, the Green Machine, was the cadalliac of Big Wheels. Green and slick, it did not have a true wheel, instead you used these levers to spin the beast left and right. It was as tall as or bigger then me, and I could bareley touch the peddles. It was great for donuts and drifting though.

Now my Mom and Dad were never well off, so Mom had gotten a used one from the thrift store. (remind me to tell you some of my thrift store stories). So yeah, it was a little used. But hey this beautifull, speed demon of a machine was MINE and mine alone.

About 10 seconds after the un-vieling I was out the door. Now, use your imagination and paint a picture for yourself...Your looking at a street, covered in about 2 feet of snow. The side walks are sholved, but some of the snow has melted on them so thier pretty slick. We also lived on a pretty good sized hill. The hill stretched about 5 blocks and was probley at a 20+ degree angle. We were about 75% up the hill, so there is a long way down.

I'm slipping and sliding all over the side walk, my Dad's trying to show me how the levers work, but I won't stop peddling so he can't quite show me what I need to know. But I'm a clever kid so eventully I think I have the hang of it. Sorta.

I think at this point Dad got a little disgusted and figures he would let me do my own things. He goes to play with my younger siblings.

I in my infinite wizdom as a six year old, think that all I need is some momentum. Speed and momentum and then this Green Machine has to go stright.

So I push this thing, which is almost as big as me, up the hill about a block. Now this is the part that I remember most vividly about this day. I'm sitting on this thing, I can barely see over the levers and the wheel. I'm in the middle of the sidewalk and I'm looking down the street. The sidewalk looks like some type of roller coaster. A dark, icy wet rollercoaster ... with snow bumpers on the side to keep me on the track. At this point I begin to have second doubts.

But then I see my Dad, he's just noticed that I'm not "in the yard". He turns and yells "Markus", this startles me a bit, I lift my feet and ....... we ........ are ......... OFF!!!!

Fast and faster, At T minus 4 seconds I'm going to fast to bail out. I grab a lever. The beast scoots towards the road. Dad runs out waving at me to stay out the road. I pull the other level. The beast scoots toward the yard. I'm thinking "nice, this might work"...then I glance stright and realize that the sidewalks goes on for about 3 blocks, an eternity, and it is .....all .... down... hill!

A moment of panic sets in...I grab both levers and pull at the same time. The beast of a machine goes into a spin, throwing me out like a snowball shoot from a sling. I hit the snow bank and kinda... sorta... launch over it. Only to see the 6 foot tall GIANT CHILD EATING SNOWMAN looking to eat me. Screaming, I face-plant into it's enourmous stomache.

Dad's running over, but slips and falls and I guess he nudges the snowman because at this point it's arms fall off. Suddenly it wasn't quite so scary a snowman.

I remember laughing a lot, Dad not so much.

I don't know what happend to the Green Machine.

But to this day, I love the snow and I love birthdays.